PORTLAND, Ore. — A Troutdale woman who directed the illegal discharge of 500,000 gallons of industrial wastewater contaminated with hydrofluoric acid and toxic metals into the Hillsboro sanitary sewer was sentenced to 5 months in federal prison, U.S. Attorney Scott E. Bradford for the District of Oregon announced.
Kayla Hartley, 36, who served as Director of Operations at Northwest Slurry Solutions and Hydro Excavation, LLC, in Hillsboro, Oregon, also received a $25,000 fine and 3 years of supervised release. Hartley pleaded guilty on January 21, 2026, to conspiracy to violate the Clean Water Act after a federal grand jury in Portland returned an indictment against her on July 15, 2025.
According to court documents, from February through September 2020, Hartley marketed Northwest Slurry as able to accept and dispose of industrial wastewater despite having no permit or authorization to discharge that type of waste. Under her leadership, the facility accepted approximately 500,000 gallons of industrial wastewater containing hydrofluoric acid, titanium, molybdenum, vanadium, arsenic, and other heavy metals, then discharged the pollutants directly into the Hillsboro sanitary sewer system.
When staff from Clean Water Services, which operates the sanitary sewer system in Hillsboro, visited the Northwest Slurry facility, Hartley attempted to conceal the fact that her company was discharging industrial wastewater.
The case was investigated by the EPA Criminal Investigation Division with assistance from Clean Water Services and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew T. Ho and Special Assistant United States Attorney Gwendolyn Russell. The investigation was conducted under the Environmental Crimes Task Force, which the District of Oregon describes as “an initiative in the District of Oregon that identifies, investigates, and prosecutes significant environmental, public lands, and wildlife crimes.”
Hartley’s 3-year term of supervised release will begin upon her release from federal custody.